


I Wanna Be More Than Friends

by 2tiedships2



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Accidental Bonding, Alpha Harry, Alpha Liam, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Beta Niall, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Louis, Platonic Cuddling, lose the platonic, sense of smell, which Harry is missing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-02 01:37:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15786303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/2tiedships2/pseuds/2tiedships2
Summary: He hadn't meant to scent Harry. They were best friends and that was it. Scenting best friends wasn't exactly socially acceptable."Lou," Harry whispered.Louis jumped at his name and sat up straighter to provide a bit of distance between himself and Harry."You can't scent me, Lou," Harry stated.Which of course Louis couldn't scent him. They were best friends."I mean," Harry continued. "I wouldn't mind exactly, but if I can't scent you, I don't think you should scent me.""What do you mean you can't scent me? I mean, I get it because we're best friends but...""I mean I can't smell you, Louis. I fucking can't smell you. I can't smell anything, okay?"Or the one where Harry’s an alpha with no sense of smell, Louis’ an omega who isn’t allowed to scent his best friend, and that’s all they’ll ever be. Obviously.





	I Wanna Be More Than Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to my lovely beta [Lynda](http://wait4ever.tumblr.com). Also to [Susette](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com) who wrote the first few lines as we sat next to a guy in Starbucks who would not. stop. talking.
> 
> Title taken from More Than Friends by Jason Mraz.
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I have no association with the band One Direction and those surrounding them, please don't share this work with anyone in the band.
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

Louis was going to kill the alpha sitting by the pick up counter in his Starbucks. He didn’t even care if he was arrested for it, it would be worth it simply because a: he would free the poor omega stuck listening to the idiot alpha talk for the last _two hours_ and b: he would free everyone else in the fairly busy Starbucks from listening to him as well. Well worth it in Louis’ book.

“Lou, you’re making that forehead squishy thing you do when you’re angry. What’s going on?”

Louis snapped out of it only to realize he was still wiping down the same piece of equipment he had been a few minutes ago when the guy started alpha-splaining something to do with the human genome and saw Harry standing in front of him, sending off waves of concerned pheromones.

"Harry?" Louis asked as he returned his focus to Harry. "Would you still be my friend if I committed murder?"

"I...." Harry started. "Um, why?"

"Why would you still be my friend? Or why am I committing murder?" Louis asked with an innocent smile.

"I'll always be your best friend, Lou." Harry said seriously. "But why are you considering murder? Do you have someone in mind?"

Louis nodded and pointed to the table where the alpha continued to talk at the omega. From the five seconds of attention the omega placed on the alpha, the one sided conversation seemed to be moving onto a different topic.

"That alpha," Louis hissed as he continued to point. "That alpha has been alpha-splaining at that poor omega for two hours now. _Two hours_ , Harry!"

Harry scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "Alpha-splaining? What is alpha-splaining?"

Louis looked between Harry and the poor omega. " _That_ is alpha-splaining." He didn't even try to be subtle when stating it and the annoying alpha glanced over to Louis before returning their attention back to the omega before Louis' glare was received.

Harry's eyebrows remained furrowed as he tentatively asked, "Do I alpha-splain?"

Louis gave a soft smile and said, "Sometimes. But you seem to notice what you're doing before I want to punch you."

Harry let out a laugh and Louis couldn't help but smile. He loved that laugh. Well, he loved all of Harry's laughs.

"Do you want me to keep you company for your last half hour of work?" Harry asked. "Or I could accidentally spill my tea on the alpha?"

Louis shook his head and stated, "No, you go ahead. If nothing else at least I can save you from this situation. Thanks for stopping in though, Haz."

Harry took his tea and grabbed a few napkins. He gave Louis a soft grin and said, "Okay, I'll see you at home."

Louis gave a small wave as Harry turned to leave. He didn't miss the way Harry's eyes flicked down to the mark on Louis' neck. He had been doing that a lot lately and Louis couldn't figure out what it meant. All omegas had a small birthmark indicating where their eventual alpha should use as the location to bond. While most omega marks were on their neck there were others where it was on their hip. Louis couldn't help but feel a little bad for those omegas since an alpha wouldn’t have an immediate indicator whether an omega was already bonded. Although as far as Louis was aware, all other alphas had a sense of smell and the omega's scent could easily help with that indication. Unfortunately Harry was not blessed with that option as he had no sense of smell.

\----

Not many people knew this about Harry and Louis wondered if he would even know if they had not been friends since childhood. Everyone always thought Harry would present as alpha, but he never did. Not until he was sixteen, which was extremely late for an alpha. Harry and Louis never seemed to give it much thought but instead went about their lives as usual. Best friends against the world. However, after Harry had presented it started to become clear that he was constantly frustrated about.... _something_.

Louis had watched on for nearly three months as Harry occasionally looked as if had been crying, while even missing a few days of school. Harry had always had perfect attendance so it didn't make sense. The pair had always shared everything with each other and it was hurtful as Harry continuously brushed Louis' inquires aside. Louis was about to put his foot down and make Harry tell him what was wrong, but before he could work up the nerve Harry seemed to return to his usual self, leaving Louis in the dark as to what had been happening.

They had been sat on Harry's childhood bed watching a movie on his laptop almost two years later when Louis found out. Louis had had to move to London, leaving Harry behind for two years while he finished school. The pair spoke constantly and visited each other frequently but Louis still felt like they barely had time to spend together. But now Louis was back visiting his family and helping Harry pack his belongings to make the move to their new shared flat in London. The pair were also both single and Harry smelled so good as they sat together.

Harry had his arm around his shoulders to allow Louis to cuddle into his side in order to better see the screen. They were both old enough to know it was a lame excuse to sit closer together but maybe the prospect of Harry finally joining him in London just made the time extra special. After so many years of cuddling as children there was no need to address the fact that anything may have changed. Or at least Louis didn't want to address it and Harry seemed content to follow suit. After Harry had presented, Louis was constantly drawn to Harry's scent. It’s not like Louis had issues with the alphas he met at uni, but Harry's scent was unique. It stood out from others, or at least it did to Louis. So if Louis used lame excuses to get closer to his best friend, so be it.

He hadn't meant to scent Harry. They were best friends and that was it. Scenting best friends wasn't _exactly_ socially acceptable. As the movie played, Louis had turned his head to rest on Harry's shoulder. It was nothing out of the ordinary, they often sat like this. Or, well, it wasn’t out of the ordinary until Louis was subconsciously turning his face into Harry's neck to scent him properly.

"Lou," Harry whispered.

Louis jumped at his name and sat up straighter to provide a bit of distance between himself and Harry.

"You can't scent me, Lou," Harry stated.

Which of course Louis couldn't scent him. They were best friends.

"I mean," Harry continued. "I wouldn't mind exactly, but if I can't scent you, I don't think you should scent me."

Louis stared at his hands. What did that mean? Harry wouldn't mind if Louis scented him? Did he want more than just best friends? Or could they be more than just best friends? They weren’t children anymore and Louis would certainly never rule out the idea of being more than friends. Except what did he mean when Harry said he couldn't scent him?

They sat in silence while the movie played for a bit longer until Louis could no longer hold it in. He looked over to Harry and asked, "What do you mean you can't scent me? I mean, I get it because we're best friends but..."

Harry ran his hands through his hair a few times and said, "I mean I can't smell you, Louis. I fucking can't smell you. And I want to! I want to so much. I can't smell anything, okay?"

Louis was silent as he looked into Harry's eyes. Louis could smell the waves of frustration and anger rolling off of Harry.

"Why are you angry, Haz?" Louis asked. "It's fine. I understand. I'm sorry I did that. I didn't mean to, I promise."

Harry let out a sigh of defeat. "I'm not mad, Lou. Not at you at least. I just..."

When Louis didn't say anything, Harry continued. "I have no sense of smell. I never have. I used to pray that I wouldn't present as anything and just be beta. That way it wouldn't really matter and I could continue on with life as before. It wouldn't make a difference if I couldn't smell stuff as a beta. But now I want to. I _need_ to. How am I supposed to find my mate if I can't smell anything? I'm not going to know how they really feel about me. They could say they like me, but could be lying and I would have no idea because I can't smell them to have any indication of how they really feel. I don't want to be an alpha, Lou. This sucks."

Louis had no idea how to respond. Why hadn't Harry ever told him this? They had been friends since children. That seems like a pretty important thing to keep from your best friend. It kind of hurt that Harry didn't trust him with this information, especially considering it wasn't even a big deal.

"I need to go," Louis said as he moved to get up. Maybe he should stay to find out why Harry had never told him, but was he ever going to tell Louis? Would he have found out if he hadn't accidentally scented him? Louis wasn't sure if he even wanted the answer to his questions at this point. At least not now.

Louis was making his way to the bedroom door when Harry scrambled off of the bed. He caught Louis by the wrist before he could get any farther. Louis tried to shake him off, but Harry held tight preventing Louis from his escape. Louis could feel the alpha thrumming through his body with Harry's hold, which momentarily distracted him before continuing.

"Let me go, Harry," Louis stated. It was too bad Harry couldn't smell him because he would know how pissed off and disappointed Louis was. With this new revelation of Harry having no sense of smell he clearly had to state it out loud.

"Lou..."

"You've fucking pissed me off, Harry," Louis almost growled. "And now that I finally know you can't smell me I'll just tell you that I probably smell like I'm pissed off. So let me go."

"No," Harry stated with a bit of alpha undertone. He had never used his alpha voice on Louis before, on _anyone_ as far as Louis knew, and it caused him to stop his struggling and submit to Harry's command. He watched as Harry’s face fell into a look of mortification.

Harry released Louis’ wrist as if he were burned. “I’m sorry, Lou,” he rushed on. “I don’t know where that came from. I would never intentionally talk to you in that way. I’m sorry I upset you and we can talk about it later, yeah?”

Louis simply nodded, turned around and left Harry standing in his doorway. When he got home, thankfully his mom and sisters weren’t around to greet Louis as he made his way up to his childhood bedroom. He didn’t feel like making conversation. He threw himself on his bed and buried his face into the pillow. What the fuck had just happened? And why had his best friend kept this information from him?

It had only been about ten minutes when there was a soft knock on his door.

"Lou?"

Seriously? Harry couldn't even give him time to calm down?

"What do you want, Harry?" Louis mumbled into his pillow. Maybe he would just go away.

"Lou, can I please come in?" Harry asked quietly. "Will you let me explain?"

When Louis didn't respond Harry continued. "Please, Lou?"

And okay, he sounded a little desperate. Louis might be upset, but he couldn't let his best friend feel as upset as he sounded. Louis really shouldn't have left like that but staying would have been the mature thing to do and Louis wasn’t quite ready for mature.

Louis let out a sigh of defeat. "Come in, Harry."

Louis still had his face buried into his pillow as he heard his door creak open and felt the bed shift as Harry climbed in next to him. He stayed in the same position as Harry started speaking in a quiet tone.

"The only people that know I don't have a sense of smell is my family. I didn't know any better when I was younger since it's all I knew. I started to question if something was wrong when I noticed how people described food, or mentioned something smelling either good or bad. I didn't really get it, but I also figured it didn't really make a difference. Doctors couldn't explain why I couldn't smell. According to them, everything seems to be in working order so there's nothing they can do."

Harry stopped talking, maybe hoping Louis would respond. When he didn't Harry continued. "Anyway, after all of the tests and everything I started hoping I would just be a beta. And then you presented and I didn't know what to do. From the reaction of all of the alphas around school and stuff I can only assume you smell good. And you seemed to be enjoying the attention of other guys so I just let it go. What difference did it make, right?"

Louis let out a grunt at that comment but remained silent. Because it kind of made a difference. A big difference. And why didn’t Harry know what to do after Louis presented? What did that have to do with anything? Louis remained silent to let Harry continue.

"So then I started thinking maybe something would change if I _did_ present. If the doctors said nothing was wrong, maybe my sense of smell would start working or something. Maybe it would kick start something, especially since scenting is a big part of an alpha and omega’s relationship."

Louis grunted again. Because it's not like that is a requirement in mating, it's not even part of it. Okay, maybe it is, but who cares? Louis didn't at least. He kept his back to Harry and remained silent to allow him to keep talking.

"My family all figured I would present as alpha. Of course I didn't agree with them, or at least I didn't _want_ to agree with them, but obviously I did. And when I did, I didn't gain a sense of smell like I had hoped. I visited the doctor a couple times to see if anything had changed, but nothing did. The doctors were stumped and it's pretty much hopeless. I'm a fucking alpha with no sense of smell. I might as well not bother trying to find a mate. No omega is going to want someone that can't properly scent them."

Harry fell silent, seemingly finished with his explanation. Although according to Louis, Harry was definitely not finished.

"And the last two years?" Louis inquired.

Louis felt the bed move as if Harry were shrugging. "I was embarrassed, Lou. We had been friends for forever and I hadn't said anything. We're best friends and I should have told you. I'm sorry."

Louis flipped onto his back and glanced over to Harry, before looking up at the ceiling. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Yes," Harry stated with authority. "I was, Louis. Of course I was. I just couldn't figure out how."

Louis turned his head to face Harry. "Let's think about this a moment. There's the option of 'Lou, did you know I can't smell things?' or 'I have no sense of smell' or 'I can't smell stuff because my nose is broken' or 'what does this flower that I stole from my neighbors garden smell like?' Take your pick, Harry, or I've got more."

Louis flipped back onto his side with his back facing Harry. He wasn't exactly mad anymore... ish... but he felt like being stubborn, so stubborn he would be.

"I'm sorry, Lou," Harry said with regret. "I truly am. I should have told you. I guess I just made a bigger deal out of it than it really was. And I'm sorry about earlier too. I would never use my alpha voice on you like that. I mean, obviously I did. But I didn't mean to. I was frustrated with myself, not you. Never you, okay?"

"Okay." Louis quietly said as he nodded his head. He didn’t know what to say at the moment. It was a lot to take in.

They seemed to make a mutual agreement that that was the end of the conversation and their friendship went back to as it had been. Two years later their relationship seemed to remain at a standstill and it was starting to drive Louis mad. Harry’s relationships never lasted long, and when he was in one it was always with a beta. Coincidentally (or not) Harry being in a ‘relationship’ always seemed to coincide with Louis’ heat or Harry always had an excuse to be out of their flat for the three days every other month, leaving Louis alone or with an alpha he was seeing. Louis knew Harry didn’t like when he spent his heat with another alpha but if Harry didn’t like it maybe he should do something about it.

\----

“Oii!” Louis heard from a distance. “Do you work here or not?”

Louis was snapped out of his thoughts to find the alpha waving his hand in front of Louis’ face. Really? Was that necessary? Would it be acceptable to throw him out for being rude? Maybe blacklist him from being able to return to the store?

“How may I help you?” Louis asked in his sweetest tone possible.

“Can I get a cup of water to go?” the alpha asked. “No ice please.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Louis asked in a tone that was not at all sweet.

The alpha looked confused but said, “No.”

Louis stared blankly at him for a moment. In other situations he may have said something more but if the interaction resulted in the alpha leaving, he was definitely not going to argue. He got the water, with no ice, and handed it over with a pleasant smile.

“Thanks mate,” the alpha said. He raised his free cup of water in the air and said, “Cheers. See you soon!”

“Hopefully not,” Louis mumbled to himself. He looked over to the omega who was packing up to leave as well. The omega shared a look of relief with Louis as they exited the store, possibly never to return.

The rest of his shift went quickly and he could tell his coworkers were glad to be rid of the alpha as well. As he left for the night he started to think about what Harry had planned. Neither of them had mentioned anything so maybe it could be a night of ordering pizza and doing nothing. He loved Liam, Niall and his other mates but he was feeling selfish and didn’t want to share Harry’s attention tonight. It had been awhile since it was just the two of them.

\----

Louis found Harry, Liam and Niall strewn across the living room when he got home. So just the two them wasn’t going to happen. Maybe if that damn alpha wasn’t at work he would have thought to have asked Harry earlier about his plans.

“Are you coming out with us, Tommo?” Liam asked upon his entrance.

“Depends,” Louis said. “Where are you going?”

Louis sat down on the couch next to Harry, who then handed Louis a flyer. It looked like an advert of a club.

Louis’ thoughts were confirmed when Liam continued. “A new club opened up not too far away and we need to go check it out.”

“Is it a gay bar?” Louis asked as he wiggled his eyebrows. Not that he was looking to find a guy in a gay bar but he could at least enjoy the moment.

“No,” Niall said bluntly. “But you’re coming anyway.”

“I don’t even get a choice?” Louis asked as he frowned and looked over at Harry.

Harry shrugged. “Apparently not. It will be fun though, right?” He didn’t sound convinced.

“Yes, it will be,” Niall stated. “Neither of you have pulled lately and it’s worrying. You need to get yourselves out there. There are plenty of eligible men dying to meet you.”

“I do meet them,” Louis countered.

Niall rolled his eyes. “And then you exchange blowjobs in bathrooms and go home alone.”

“Well,” Louis said with a shrug. “If it’s a new club at least the bathrooms will be clean, right?”

“Whatever,” Niall said. “We’ll work on Harry first then. Let’s go find you a nice omega, Harry. No more betas. Your sense of smell is irrelevant moving forward. Actually it was irrelevant in the past but I’ll let that slide if you actually do something besides betas. Pun intended.”

“How generous of you,” Louis mumbled. Louis flicked his eyes over to Liam and found him already watching Louis with a small frown on his face. Louis ignored whatever it meant and moved to get up.

“Fine,” Louis said. “Let me shower and find my maroon scoop neck hot as fuck shirt and we can go.”

Harry asked, “Are you sure, Lou? We can make them go by themselves, you know. Maybe we could just stay in and watch a movie or something.”

“You are not staying in, Harry,” Niall stated. “Louis is not staying in. We are all going out to a new club together so go put on one of your sheer shirts. Omegas will be able to smell you even better if you’re wearing sheer.”

Louis kept silent as he moved to get dressed. He may not want to pull, but he was going to get dressed in the hopes of keeping the attention of one alpha tonight. And he wasn’t talking about Liam.

\----

Louis had to admit that the club was nice. The dance floor seemed a bit small for the amount of people filling it but no one seemed to mind. They had barely stepped in the door when Niall made the executive decision.

“I’m breaking the pair of you up tonight,” Niall said as he pointed between Harry and Louis. “We can find a table and do some shots but then Louis, you head to the dance floor while Harry hangs out at the bar. If you both manage to pull, I’ll swap rooms with one of you for the night so you don’t have to stay in the same flat. That could get awkward and I’ll save you from that.”

“I think you’ve already made things awkward, Niall.” Louis said with laughter in his voice. It wasn’t funny but he’d at least humor him for ten minutes or so.

“Shots!” Liam yelled over the noise as he led them to an open booth and Louis followed Harry as he slid onto the bench. Harry stopped short causing Louis to run into his side but instead of moving farther Harry was quick to put his arm around Louis shoulder to hold him in place. Niall wasn’t wrong when he said a sheer shirt would assist in smelling Harry even better. He smelled fucking good. Louis had told Harry about a year ago that cologne covered his scent and Harry had asked whether Louis preferred the cologne or his natural smell. Louis didn’t fail to notice that Harry’s cologne bottles were collecting dust after Louis truthfully told him that his natural smell was far superior.

Louis was on the edge of tipsy when Niall got up and pulled Louis towards the dance floor by his arm. Louis looked back to find Harry frowning as Niall pulled him farther from the booth. They were about to make their way into the sea of bodies when Niall pulled him in the opposite direction towards the… loo? What was happening?

Niall continued to pull on his arm that was going to have a bruise at this rate and pushed him into the loo.

“Niall,” Louis hissed. “What the fuck is going on? Why are you being like this?”

“Listen to me, Louis,” Niall said. “You always point out how Harry doesn’t stay in relationships very long. Apparently you’ve failed to realize that the same goes for you. In the four years I’ve known you, I can’t think of a time when you were with a guy long enough to establish an actual relationship.”

Louis crossed his arms in defense and stated, “That’s not true and you know it, Niall. I’ve been in relationships long enough to trust them to help me during some of my heats. I’m not going to allow some random guy to help me with a heat.”

Niall crossed his arms to mirror Louis’ stance. “Okay,” he said. “So you find a nice guy, maybe _he_ thinks you’re in a relationship, he helps you with your heat, and then you dump him a week later, at most. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Niall wasn’t wrong. “You’re wrong.”

“Okay, I’ll rephrase. Tell me I’m wrong that that definitely happened when Harry moved to London.”

Niall definitely wasn’t wrong about that part. “You’re wrong. I’ve been in relationships.”

Niall let out an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, for arguments sake, how many relationships have you been in since Harry got here?”

Louis shrugged. “Maybe less than before, but I’ve had guys help me with heats so I’ve been with them long enough to trust them enough to do that.”

“Fine,” Niall said. “This a stupid conversation to have in the loo of a club. In the meantime you are finding a nice alpha and taking him home. I’ll have Harry stay at mine and Liam’s place if you think that would be less awkward. Or maybe he’ll find someone to take home instead.”

Louis didn’t have time to respond before Niall was gripping his arm again and dragging him out of the loo towards the dance floor. Once in the center of the floor Niall placed his hands on Louis’ shoulders to keep him still. Okay?

“Stay,” Niall yelled over the music. “Dance. There are plenty of alphas I’m sure who would want to dance with you. Harry is a shit dancer and you spend too much time with him when we go out. Meet someone, take them home, and stop thinking about Harry.”

“I’m fine, Niall”, Louis yelled.

“Yes, you are,” Niall agreed. “And there’s a good looking alpha already looking your way who thinks so too, so have fun. I need to go get Harry to hang out at the bar.”

“But…” Louis started. But Niall was already weaving his way through the crowd.

Niall’s place was quickly filled by the alpha Niall had pointed out. He hated Niall. And why was he trying to set Harry up with someone else as well? He should have made an argument to stay in with Harry.

“Hi,” the alpha said. “My name’s Mike. Wanna dance?”

Did Louis have a choice? Because apparently he didn’t. Louis couldn’t deny that this Mike guy was good looking. And smelled good. Not as good as Harry, but that was always the case. Maybe Niall was right afterall. According to Harry’s dating history he was only interested in betas anyway. Louis didn’t stand a chance.

Mike was still standing in front of Louis with a patient smile on his face. That was at least a pleasant change from alphas just taking the lead with the assumption that Louis did in fact want to dance with them.

“Sure,” Louis said. He was going to dance and enjoy the evening no matter how long it lasted.

They were just getting into a rhythm when the floor started to divide to allow for a pair of breakdancers to take over. Was this a thing for new clubs? Despite the current occupants being forced to move out of the way, Mike pulled Louis back into him so they were front to back. Mike placed his hands on Louis hips and continued to move with the beat.

“You smell good,” Mike whisper-yelled into Louis’ ear. It was something Louis had been told on numerous occasions and he never knew how to respond. There was no point in trying to come up with a response because before he knew what was happening, Mike was leaning in and scenting Louis directly over his birthmark. And no. Louis wasn’t against someone scenting him, but not there. That spot was reserved for his alpha.

“I have to go,” Louis stated as he quickly pulled out of Mike’s light hold. It was unfortunate as Mike seemed like a genuinely nice guy and, to be fair, most omegas didn’t mind being scented over their birthmark. Maybe Mike didn’t know otherwise, but Louis didn’t feel like sticking around to explain.

When Louis finally got free from the mass of people he looked around for Niall, Liam and Harry. Although if Niall had in fact pushed Harry towards the bar Louis wasn’t sure if he wanted to know where Harry was. Louis had wanted to stay home in the first place. After Niall’s talk in the loo, forcibly separating Louis from Harry, and Louis being scented by a stranger he just wanted to leave. He’d text the other boys later.

\----

The club wasn’t exactly close to their flat, but it was also in walking distance and the weather was fair enough. Louis could use a walk anyway to help clear his head. Unfortunately there was one thought that would not clear out of his mind. He should talk to Harry. Did Harry really want to spend the rest of his life with a beta? So what if he couldn’t smell. Was he really going to let that stop him from finding a true mate? Louis never asked if Harry had been with any omegas during the two years they were separated. But it’s been two years of an occasional beta. Louis shook his head in a final attempt to clear his thoughts.

Louis arrived back at their flat to find the door unlocked. He blinked in confusion down at the doorknob. He had definitely locked it when they left and Louis couldn’t think of a time when Harry would leave anything unlocked. Whatever. Maybe he hadn’t locked it but either way he needed a glass of water.

Louis locked the door behind him and headed straight to the kitchen. His mouth felt disgusting and while brushing his teeth probably would have a better outcome, water would do for now. Or a beer. Yes, definitely a beer. Cereal and beer.

He grabbed a beer and made the difficult decision of choosing which cereal to eat. Somehow Harry’s cornflakes ended up in his bowl which was definitely not what he was going for. Despite Harry not being home to cuddle with, Louis decided he was going to enjoy a movie on his own. He didn’t need his favorite alpha around in order to enjoy a movie thank you very much.

Louis headed to the living room and, since his hands were full, used his elbow to flick the wall light on. He dropped both his beer and cereal in shock. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he took in the scene. Naturally he had opted to use the glass bowl instead of plastic which then proceeded to shatter, cereal flying in all different directions. He was unable to move as he took in his surroundings. He hadn’t seen Harry with anyone in quite awhile and even when Harry did have someone over he always kept to his bedroom. Louis looked around and saw articles of clothing strewn across the floor. Thankfully underwear did not appear to be anywhere and found the occupants on the couch still wearing them thank God. Harry was hovering over what Louis assumed was the owner of the second pair of clothes. And then Louis smelled it. The person Harry was half on top of was an _omega_.

At the sound of glass breaking Harry sprung up and scrambled to sit as far away from the omega as possible. He quickly grabbed a pillow and pulled it over his lap in an incredibly poor attempt to hide his erection. Meanwhile the omega stayed in a horizontal position and looked over to Louis with glassy eyes.

“Hi,” the omega greeted in a cheerful tone. “You must be Louis. I thought you were staying at Harry’s friend’s house. I would tell you his name but I don’t remember it. It sounded like Neil but I don’t know if that’s right.”

Louis was speechless. Harry was clearly speechless and they both didn’t move as they stared at each other in shock.

“Hellooooo,” the omega slurred, no longer having any cheer to their voice. “Do you think me and Harry here can get some privacy? We’re kind of in the middle of something.”

Louis flicked his eyes over to the omega and found an untouched birthmark on their neck. From the high level of pheromones in the room Louis could only assume that the omega was slick. Louis suddenly felt the alcohol in his stomach churning.  

Louis looked over to the omega and ground out, “If you leave a stain on my couch from your fucking slick I swear to God you are buying me a new one.”

He couldn’t look at Harry as he turned the light back off and ran towards the bathroom, leaving the shards of glass and cereal behind. He had enough time to slam the door behind him and lift the lid of the loo before the night’s contents came up.

\----

Louis wasn’t sure how long he laid on the bathroom tile. There was nothing left in his stomach so there was no harm in getting up. But he couldn’t. He was safe in the bathroom, safe from the smell of the omega. He was safe from the smell of the omega’s scent mixed with Harry’s pure scent. As Louis continued to unintentionally think about it, he thought that maybe it wasn’t even that. If Harry could smell, he would smell the alpha on Louis when he was with someone. It was normal. It was fine. So it wasn’t that. It was the fact that Louis physically saw Harry with someone, with _anyone_ . Louis had always watched on as Harry’s previous boyfriends cuddled into his side with Harry’s arm holding them tight. Much like Harry did with Louis when they were both single. But that’s all Louis saw, he never experienced what just happened. It made everything _real_ . It made Harry’s relationships _real_.

Louis could always sense Harry’s frustrations when Louis was in a relationship. Especially those few times when his relationship overlapped Louis’ heat. But Louis kept everything to either his room or outside of the flat as well. Was this how Harry felt? It couldn’t be, right? They were best friends. Louis was overreacting and he should be proud that Harry put himself out there. He went to a club and brought someone back with him. Brought an _omega_ back with him. It would have been appreciated if they made it to Harry’s bedroom first, but the fact that Harry showed attention to an omega was a good thing. Louis should be happy for him. Louis nodded to himself in confirmation that he _was_ happy for him. With that thought he finally sat up.

Dinner would definitely not be happening so it was just a matter of taking a shower to get Mike’s scent off of him and going to bed. Everything would be back to normal in the morning.

\----

It definitely wasn’t morning but someone was calling Louis’ name in the dark bedroom.

“Lou?”

It was Harry. Harry being here was not going to make things go back to normal in the morning.

“Go away, Harry,” Louis mumbled as he kept his eyes shut against the night. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’ll see you in the morning. I’m tired, okay?”

Harry didn't move from where he sat on the side of the bed, or at least Louis assumed as he refused to open his eyes. Harry had showered, smelling slightly of body wash and mostly like Harry, _only_ like Harry.

Much like when they were children, or maybe just a few months ago, Harry manhandled Louis and pushed him over to make room in the bed. He slid underneath the covers to join Louis. If it were two nights ago, Louis reckoned it wouldn’t feel any different than when they were children. Best friends talking into the night until they both fell asleep, waking up with tangled limbs that didn’t mean anything more than the fact that they both moved around in their sleep.

There was more now. Louis’ groggy mind couldn’t figure out what it was and he most definitely didn’t want to talk about it. Everything would be back to normal in the morning.

“Lou,” Harry quietly said. He didn’t continue on though. Louis was on his side facing Harry and had the distinct feeling Harry was on his back looking up at the ceiling.

Louis felt Harry shift onto his side to face him. Or at least Louis assumed because he wasn’t fucking opening his eyes. His assumptions were confirmed when he felt Harry’s minty breath fan out over his face as he spoke. Whenever they fell asleep together they always laid on their back, shoulder to toe, talking up to the ceiling. This was weird. Or maybe just different. Harry needed to leave so Louis could fall back into what was sure to be a fitful sleep.

“Lou,” Harry again whispered. “I know you’re awake. And I know you don’t want to talk about it and you’re going to want to pretend everything is back to normal in the morning. That’s okay if you want that. I think I was a lot more drunk than I thought I was when that omega came up to me at the bar tonight. And I know it’s not an excuse, it’s just the truth. I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

Louis clamped his eyes shut. Harry may know that he wasn’t sleeping but he wasn’t about to acknowledge that fact. Everything would be back to normal in the morning. Apparently Harry wasn’t going to leave his bed but he kept to his own side and Louis soon felt Harry’s calming pheromones that helped in falling back asleep.

“You’re beautiful, Louis, you were so beautiful tonight,” he thought he heard whispered before Louis fell into a deep sleep.

\----

Louis didn’t remember setting an alarm but unfortunately it woke him up regardless. As he reached out to turn it off he found it connected to his charger, which is something Louis definitely hadn’t done. Harry. Fuck. Louis didn’t have time to dwell on it though. Harry must has guessed what time Louis needed to be up for work because the alarm went off a half hour later than it should have. Not that Louis was complaining, if not for Harry he would probably have slept through his whole shift.

He had no choice but to get up quickly to get to work on time. Harry’s bedroom door was wide open, yet he was nowhere to be seen. Louis could think about that later. Or not think about it. Not thinking about it sounded like the more desirable option.

As Louis hurried through the flat he quickly took note that there was no broken glass or any items from Louis’ late night snack on the floor of the living room. Maybe it was all a bad dream. Maybe Louis had come home and gone directly to bed. Maybe the one remaining glass bowl that they owned was still intact and in the cupboard. Everything was back to normal.

\----

“Where did you go last night, Lou?” Liam asked as he walked up to the register. Louis hadn’t even noticed him walk in.

“Home, unfortunately,” Louis said. He didn’t want to talk about it so he continued on. “What can I get you?”

“Hot chocolate,” Liam stated. It was way too warm out for hot chocolate.

“You seriously want hot chocolate?” Louis asked. “It’s not incredibly hot outside, but it’s definitely not cold.”

Liam shrugged. “I thought maybe I’d hang around here for a bit. Get some stuff done on my computer. In which case I definitely need hot chocolate because it’s freezing in here.”

“A shame the alpha that was in here last night didn’t feel the same way,” Louis voiced his thoughts out loud.

“What alpha?” Liam asked.

Louis waved his hand in dismissal. “Just an annoying customer. One of many, no big deal.”

Louis placed Liam’s order and Liam asked again while paying. “Seriously, Lou. Where did you go last night? You usually text before you go home with a guy so we were kind of worried, especially considering it’s been so long.”

Louis couldn’t contain his curiosity as he got to work on Liam’s hot chocolate and asked, “Who was worried?”

“We all were,” Liam said with annoyance in his tone. “Especially Harry. I honestly thought Harry was going to kill Niall at one point. He was not happy about him setting you up with another alpha. I haven’t seen him drink so much in such a short time frame in ages. I was worried about him as well to be honest, and I still don’t know where he went. I don’t think Niall would have left him alone at the bar if he knew how much alcohol Harry had consumed beforehand. And then neither of you were answering your phone.”

“Welp,” Louis said with too much enthusiasm to seem sincere. “Here I am. Safe and sound at my glamorous job.”

Liam frowned as Louis handed him his hot chocolate. “Well, shoot one of us a text next time, yeah?”

“Sure thing, Payno,” Louis said. He kind of wanted to tell him a bit more about his evening but he also definitely did not.

Liam nodded in satisfaction and said, “The four of us should do something tonight, but just stay in for a change. What do you think?”

“Sure,” Louis said. “Or, well, I’ll think about it. I’m really tired.”

“I’ll text Niall and Harry and get back to you in a bit,” Liam said as he headed to the corner table he always tried to sit at.

\----

The plan was for Liam and Niall to meet at Harry and Louis' flat where they were going to do nothing. Louis may, or may not, be slightly nervous what Liam meant by nothing. He probably just meant ordering pizza and playing Fifa as usual or maybe argue over what movie to watch until Niall eventually closed his eyes and randomly picked. There had been some interesting movie choices made when that method came into play. Harry had the bigger TV so it made sense that they always chose their place.

Louis shrugged to himself. He was happy for Harry and their friendship would continue on as before. Or at least, it would with the exception of now owning a goldfish Niall brought over as a peace offering. Niall was still standing in the doorway holding out a plastic bag with a small goldfish swimming in circles.

"Are you going to let me in or not?" Niall huffed. "I got you a goldfish, you should be happy."

"I'm confused how a goldfish is going to make me happy," Louis stated.

Niall pushed his way past Louis and made his way to the kitchen without invitation. Niall moved around the kitchen in the search of something that Louis didn't care about.

When no one said anything Niall finally provided an explanation. "It will serve as a reminder of my love for the both of you. Now where is a glass bowl to put this little guy in? I know you have at least one left."

"I accidentally broke it," Harry said as he entered the room behind Louis. Louis hadn't been home long enough to see if Harry was around and he whipped around to find Harry smiling at Louis. Everything was back to normal.

"I don't believe you," Niall said.

"What? Why?" Louis asked in a scandalous tone. "Why is that not believable?"

Niall shrugged and directed his comment at Louis. "You're always the one to break them. When Harry drops one of them they seem to just bounce back with no issue. It's impressive really, but that means that _you_ , Louis, are the one that broke it."

Niall pointed an accusatory finger at Harry. "Don't be covering for the ball breaker."

The three of them halted the conversation. "Okay," Niall continued slowly. "Did I just say bowl breaker, or ball breaker? Because I meant bowl breaker."

Louis snorted. "You definitely said ball breaker. Now put the fish in a plastic bowl. I'm sure it will survive a night with no windows to look out of. Or it could end up down the toilet, but that's neither here nor there."

There was another knock at the door signaling the arrival of Liam. Harry left the kitchen leaving Louis to deal with Niall. Once out of earshot Niall whispered, "So, how was last night? Did you have fun with that alpha. I told you that the two of you would get on, see. Although I wish you would have texted. We were all really worried, Lou."

Louis tossed a plastic bowl at Niall who was still holding the bag with the fish. Somehow he managed to catch it which was a slight disappointment for Louis.

"Well here I am," Louis stated a bit harshly. "And I was here last night as well. The alpha was a prick and I didn't feel like staying for you to just push me towards someone else, so I walked home."

"You walked home?" He heard Harry and Liam ask in unison as they came back into the kitchen.

"You didn't mention that today at work, Lou," Liam said. "Why would you walk home? I mean, it's not like you live in a bad neighborhood but it's still not safe for you to walk home like that. That was probably a half hour walk on your own."

"Around there, yes," Louis said. "And here I am, safe and sound, now what are we doing?"

The group remained silent for a few moments. Niall got to work on getting the unwanted goldfish into it's windowless bowl. Liam pulled out the takeaway menus from the drawer next to the refrigerator, and Louis watched how Harry’s eyes were transfixed to Louis' birthmark. And sure, Harry's been eyeing it a bit more recently but not like this. He was boring a hole into Louis' neck. Maybe things weren't back to normal?

"Harry?" Louis asked. He didn't mean to say his name out loud but too late now.

Harry snapped his eyes up to meet Louis' before quickly turning to Liam and asking, "So what are we ordering?"

\----

"Okay," Niall said as he sat down on the floor in front of the open pizza boxes. "Do we want to watch Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2, or Iron Man 3?"

"Or we could just watch all of them," Liam chimed in.

Louis reached over to grab a slice of the pepperoni pizza and said, "Or we could watch none of them and choose something else."

"I say we watch all of them," Harry stated as he handed out beers to the group.

Louis looked over in confusion because that was not a very Harry answer. All three? Plus, Harry was supposed to be on his side.

"Aren't you supposed to be on my side, Haz?" Louis asked as he took Harry's offered beer. "I'm pretty sure that's how things are supposed to work."

Harry shrugged. "Maybe it's time for a change."

“Really?” Niall asked in astonishment. “Wait…”

“Niall,” Liam interrupted in warning.

Niall ignored Liam and continued. “Does this have to do with that omega from last night? Are you finally ridding yourself of betas and moving on to find your mate? Holy shit, how good was he to have you changing your mind after one night?”

Louis stilled, the slice of pizza halfway to his mouth. Louis glanced over only to find Harry already watching him. Louis quickly averted his eyes and continued eating. Everything was fine. This was normal conversation. Louis was happy as long as Harry was.

Harry let out an exaggerated sigh. “Despite your best efforts, Niall, nothing happened.”

Louis snorted but didn’t look up.

“Nothing happened?” Niall threw his hands up in exasperation. “How could nothing happen? That dude was all over you. I told you the sheer shirt would work, you know.”

If Harry was happy, Louis was happy. It was simple. It had always been simple. Best friends forever and all that.

“I vote for all three Iron Man movies as well,” Louis stated.

“No, wait, I’m confused,” Niall continued. His tone suggested he was actually confused instead of being nosey. “What happened last night? Because supposedly Harry came back with that omega, and Louis didn’t go with the alpha but walked home by himself.”

“Can we please start the fucking movie?!” Louis interrupted a bit too loudly. “You all voted, we’ll have an Iron Man marathon, which means we have to start now if we’re going to fit them all in tonight.”

Louis was about to get up to get the movie started but Liam beat him to it. Thank god. Louis tossed his half eaten slice of pizza in the box and got up enough to lay on the couch. With Niall and Harry still sitting on the floor, Louis sprawled out to take the space of all three cushions before Liam had a chance to claim a spot. Liam merely shrugged and threw himself down in the armchair after grabbing a third slice of pizza. Louis was happy if Harry was happy. That was his new mantra.

As the movie started Niall grabbed a pillow from the couch and got comfortable on the floor. Louis could tell Harry wasn’t sure what to do or where he should sit. He certainly wouldn’t make it through three fucking movies sitting on the floor though.

Louis sat up and patted the cushion to the right of him. “Come sit, Harry.” Louis gave him a best friend smile and Harry moved to sit down. It was merely habit that brought Louis to move into Harry’s side. Harry wasted no time is putting his arm around Louis and pulling him in tight. Tighter than usual actually.

About halfway through the movie Louis noticed a shift in Harry’s scent. He was… was he _scent marking_ Louis? Harry obviously couldn’t smell the pheromones in the room so did he know what he was doing? _Was_ Harry scent marking him?

Liam turned his head to look over to the pair. Louis had no idea what Liam was thinking, but he couldn’t help but notice the smirk that played on Liam’s lips. What the fuck was happening because according to Liam’s response Louis probably wasn’t hallucinating.

“Harry?” Louis whispered into Harry’s shoulder. Louis wanted to scent him. Holy shit he wanted to scent him. It’d been so many years since Harry told him that Louis couldn’t, that he shouldn’t. Maybe Harry changed his mind?

“Don’t say anything, Lou,” Liam interrupted his thoughts. “Not now.”

And what the fuck? Since when could Liam read his thoughts? Liam hadn’t even taken his eyes off the screen when he said it. Louis was jostled even more out of his thoughts as Harry’s hold shifted as he looked between Louis and Liam in confusion.

“What’s going on?” Harry asked. So he _didn’t_ know he was scent marking Louis then? What was Louis supposed to take away from this development?

“I don’t know what’s going on but hush, all of you,” Niall stated to the group.

They fell silent once more as the movie continued to play.

\----

So they were actually going to have a full marathon because it was now mid Iron Man 2. Louis hadn’t moved from his location in Harry’s side and now Harry was brushing his thumb over Louis’ birthmark. Louis knew it had to be subconscious and Harry didn’t know what he was doing. He seemed focused on the movie and nothing more. Louis definitely wasn’t focusing on the movie because he was concentrating the fuck to hold in a whimper. There was a big difference between Mike scenting him over his birthmark and this. This was more intimate and Louis both loved and hated it. It probably didn’t mean anything to Harry.

And then it happened again. Harry’s pheromones changed and yes, he was scent marking Louis. Louis was officially going to die. It would be death by happiness so it was obviously fine. Louis hoped that Harry’s hand would follow his neck as he dropped his head onto Harry’s chest. Maybe Louis could halfway scent him. Harry wouldn’t notice right? Not when he couldn’t smell. Harry’s occasional light brush over Louis’ birthmark still occurred. There was no way Louis would be able to concentrate on the movie.

Liam noticed again, the bastard. He didn’t take his eyes off of the movie when he said, “Don’t say anything, Louis, just wait, okay?”

“Liam,” Louis said in a bit of a desperate tone.

“It will be better if you wait,” Liam responded.

Niall looked up from his spot on the floor and asked, “What the fuck is wrong with you two? Shut it.”

Louis rolled his eyes into Harry’s wonderful smelling chest and said, “It’s not like you haven’t seen these before, Niall.”

“Popcorn?” Harry interrupted.

And no. Making popcorn will require Harry to get up.

“Definitely,” Niall said.

“Um,” Liam responded. Louis wondered if he was thinking the same thing as Louis. Hopefully he would cooperate. “I’d love some, thanks Harry.”

Liam was dead to him.

“You are dead to me, Liam,” Louis stated.

Liam merely laughed and Harry gently moved Louis enough to stand up. He was always the designated popcorn maker so it would be suspicious if someone else offered. Not that anyone would.

Once Harry was out of the room Niall sat up and quietly asked, “What is going with you two? Why the random one sided command from Liam?”

Liam looked to Louis who merely shrugged. Niall would end up finding out anyway so it was probably best to just tell him now.

Liam took the lead and said, “Harry has scent marked Louis. Twice actually.”

“What?!?” Niall asked. Amazingly very quiet from his usually speaking tone. “Can he do that? Or does he know he’s doing it? He doesn’t have a sense of smell. I would think that makes a difference or something.”

“I don’t know,” Liam said. “We don’t know. But I don’t think we should say anything until we know something. Or _he_ knows something. If he doesn’t know he’s scent marking it will be awkward for all of us, especially Louis.”

Niall nodded in understanding. “Yeah, oh my God this is insane. I always hoped something like this would happen, but, wow. And with _you_ , Louis.”

Louis furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “Should I be offended by that comment.”

Niall shook his head violently. “No. Definitely not. You two are made for each other and it’s about time you recognize that. Get your shit together and make it happen.”

“Agreed,” Liam stated. “But don’t say anything, Lou. He needs to recognize what he’s doing on his own. And _don’t_ scent him. Don’t. Not now. It could go to shit if you move too fast. He’s not used to having an omega but I’m almost positive he wants you. I’ve always thought that, ever since he moved here. I think he’s always been scared because he can’t scent you and probably thinks you need that to want to be with him. Or is that true?”

“No!” Louis said a bit too loudly. “I mean, um, I wouldn’t mind or anything. I’d be cool with it.”

“Get it together, Louis,” Niall said. “Or I swear I will try even harder to pull you two apart.”

“Wha…”

“Three bowls of popcorn, warm and delicious,” Harry stated as he walked back into the room.”

Louis looked up at Harry and asked, “I don’t get any?”

“Nope,” Harry said with a twinkle in his eye. “Now budge over and _maybe_ I’ll share some of mine.”

“This is going to be hard keeping this to myself,” Louis heard Niall whisper before turning back around. They never paused the movie but seemed to have a mutual agreement that it was not necessary.

\----

Movie number three. The entire series was a little much for one night in Louis’ opinion. Not that his opinion mattered obviously. Harry had just made a second batch of popcorn and the group settled in for the final movie. Somehow Harry, Niall and Liam were all still wide awake but Louis was officially about to fall asleep. Let the internal debate begin. Should he excuse himself and go to the comfort of his bed? Should he pretend to be social and stay with the group? Should he push Niall off the couch so Louis had more room to stretch out? (Why couldn't Niall have just stayed on the floor?) Or does he rearrange himself so he's laying his head in Harry's lap? That wasn't really their thing though. They share the same bed from time to time for fuck's sake, why had they never officially cuddled in a horizontal position? Their 'relationship' was so stupid.

Louis let out a yawn and stated, "Okay, I'm going to bed. This has been fun and all but Iron Man is putting me to sleep."

Louis wiggled to get out of Harry's hold and moved to stand up.

"No way," Niall stated. "You are staying for the whole movie.”

"What Niall said," Liam chimed in. His eyes still glued to the TV. How were they all so invested in this? When did everyone become such Iron Man fans?

Louis ignored them both and moved to get up. He was almost there when Harry reached out for his arm.

"Stay, Lou," Harry quietly said. "You can lay down here and finish out the series with us.” And what did Harry mean by lay down here? Where?

Louis momentarily glanced over and looked between Niall and Liam, who had turned their attention towards Louis.

Liam nodded in Harry's direction and said, "I think Harry just volunteered to be a pillow. Sometimes he's stupid like that but stay here and watch this movie, Louis. Or fall asleep, whatever. But I think you should stay here."

Louis gave an exaggerated sigh and sat back down. He looked over to Harry and said, "I'm leaving if my neck starts to cramp because your thighs are lumpy."

"Heeeyyy," Harry responded.

Louis shrugged. "I'm just saying." Harry's thighs were definitely not lumpy. They were fucking perfect and this was a bad idea. This wasn't normal.

\----

Okay. What is it with the middle of Iron Man movies? Louis was on his way to sleep when Harry's scent changed. Was he fucking scent marking Louis _again_ ? Harry definitely couldn’t know he was scent marking because three times in one night was a little excessive, right? At least according to Louis' experience it was. Not that he was complaining. Harry smelled so fucking good. Fuck. Louis just wanted to flip onto his other side and bury his nose in Harry's stomach. Something. _Anything_.

Thankfully it was dark in the room because Louis was getting hard as fuck. Things were supposed to be back to normal. This wasn't normal. Although maybe Louis didn't want normal anymore, well, in reality he knew he hadn't wanted normal for years. He was in denial and he knew it. The time he spent laying on the bathroom floor after finding Harry with the omega was proof of that. Maybe Harry was in denial as well? Louis couldn't stop himself from glancing up at Harry at that thought and he found Harry already looking down at him, his eyes were once again locked onto Louis' birthmark. Louis felt slick and could not contain a whine that he simultaneously released.

“Lou?” Harry asked in concern. “Are you okay?”

No. Definitely not. Definitely not okay.

Louis turned his head back towards the TV and said, “I’m fine, Haz. I’m just tired is all.”

"Harry, do you think we could have one last batch of popcorn?" Liam asked. Thankfully Louis hadn't killed him. Yet.

Louis felt Harry shrug and Louis sat up enough to allow Harry to slide out from under Louis' head. Once out of earshot, Liam turned to directly face Louis.

Liam had a frown on his face as he hissed, "What the fuck was that?!?"

"I'm sorry," Louis said in defense. "But do you not smell what is going on, Liam? Nothing?"

"Yeah, of course I do, but you need to chill."

Niall was looking between the two and finally asked, "Did he scent mark you again? Are alphas with no sense of smell that territorial? It's just the three of us. This is bloody insane and how am I supposed to not talk about it? If I knew driving the two of you apart at a club would have this effect I would have done it two years ago."

Louis looked back over to Liam, his eyes widening as he thought.

"Liam," Louis whisper-yelled. "Do you think he _is_ being territorial? What's happened? Why now?"

The room was silent for a moment before Niall asked, "What happened last night, Lou? With the omega? Do you know?"

Louis couldn't decide what to say, if anything.

"Lou?" Liam prompted.

Louis squished the palms of his hands into his eye sockets. He still hadn't been able to unsee what had been happening on the couch.

Louis sighed and said, "I walked in on him and the omega snogging on the couch. Maybe they did more, but I wasn't going to stick around and see."

"Shit," Niall whispered. "I'm sorry, Lou."

"It's fine," Louis said. It definitely wasn't fine.

"I think he knows you're his omega," Liam pondered. "Or at least he _thinks_ he knows that your his omega.

“Why do you say that?” Louis asked.

Niall tapped his chin as if deep and thought and said, “Maybe you walking in on them woke him up and that’s when he realized no other omega could take your place. Do you really think they did more than some snogging?”

Louis tried to think back on when Harry had joined him in bed. The invisible line of separation between the two remaining intact as always. Louis probably hadn’t been asleep too long. Maybe. He had no idea.

“I don’t know,” Louis said. “It could have been minutes or maybe hours between me walking in on them and Harry climbing into my bed. I have no idea.”

“I’ve said this before,” Niall said. “But friends don’t sleep in each others bed, Lou.”

“We have since we were kids, Niall,” Louis countered. “It’s no big deal. We keep an invisible line between us and that’s that.”

“Do you like having an invisible line?” Niall asked.

The conversation was cut off with Harry walking back into the room with three more bowls of popcorn.

Louis liked the invisible line of separation. Or at least he _used_ to like it. It kept things simple. It was nice falling asleep to Harry’s scent and he always slept better on the nights that Harry was there. Louis had mentioned that years ago, probably before Harry had even moved to London. Did he remember that and that’s why Harry occasionally joined Louis when they were both single? God, their relationship was stupid.

\----

The minute the movie was over Louis was up and headed to his room. That was too much time spent on the couch when he could have been sprawled out on his bed.

“That’s it?” Niall called after him. “No goodbyes or anything?”

“I need my beauty rest,” Lous said as he moved out of the room.

“You’re getting old, Lou,” Niall said.

Louis turned around to face Niall and asked, “Excuse me?”

Niall shrugged. “It’s only two a.m. and you’re rushing to bed. It’s not like tonight took a lot of activity out of you or something.”

“Consider tonight a one off. I am _not_ getting old. I’m merely conserving my energy for when we go out and are up until 5 a.m.”

Liam snorted. “That’s something old people say.”

“I think I’m going to head to bed as well,” Harry said.

“Of course you are,” Niall mumbled.

Louis turned back towards his bedroom while yelling behind him, “I am _not_ getting old!”

Louis crawled into bed and let out a yawn. Harry fell asleep in Louis’ bed last night and it didn’t usually happen two nights in a row. Maybe they figured it might mean more if it happened every night. Louis looked up at the ceiling and thought about the night and how Harry had scent marked him. Louis honestly didn’t think Harry could do that. On the other hand why would Louis think that? He rolled his eyes at himself. Harry just hadn’t ever been with someone that would care about his alpha tendencies. What had happened last night with that fucking omega?

There was a soft knock on his door followed by Harry tentatively poking his head in and asking, “You asleep, Lou?”

He had only been in bed for, like, five minutes. He tended to fall asleep quickly, but not _that_ fast. Harry knew this.

“Of course not, Haz,” Louis said. “Why are you even asking?”

“Can I join you?”

So much for not falling asleep together two nights in a row. In which case what did this mean? Anything?

“Sure,” Louis said. “Of course.”

Louis watched as Harry moved across the dark room. It seemed all of the lights were off in the flat signaling that the other boys had gone home for the night. Louis scooted over to allow Harry plenty of room to join him and Harry climbed in. The pair lay side by side with the invisible line in between them. Louis had never really considered there to be an invisible line until Niall mentioned it. It was just habit. Now that he had mentioned it Louis couldn’t unthink it.

“Nothing happened, Lou,” Harry said as they both kept their eyes above them. And please don’t let this be about the omega. Louis was still trying to figure out how to unsee what he saw. He didn’t need any more visuals.

Louis gave a noncommittal grunt in response. How drunk was Harry to think that nothing happened?

When Louis didn’t respond Harry continued. “Well, obviously something did, but nothing beyond what you saw.”

Please God, let this conversation end. Louis should have denied Harry entrance. He should have known Harry would bring it up. Well, not really since he never brought up any other boyfriends like this, but maybe it was because it had been an omega that this conversation was happening.

“I just needed you to know that,” Harry said.

“Okay,” Louis stated.

They laid in silence for several minutes. Harry was the one to break it when he quietly said, “He scented me, you know?”

Well no. Louis didn’t know that. And he definitely didn’t need or _want_ to know that.

“Or at least I assume he did,” Harry continued. “He kept going on about how good I smell and kept taking deep breaths by my neck. I didn’t really like it.”

“Oh,” Louis said. What was he supposed to say to that? Harry didn’t like being scented? Was that it for omegas then? Was he going to go back to dating a beta?

“I mean,” Harry said. “I’m not saying I didn’t like being scented it’s just… I don’t know. What if he was just saying I smell good to keep the night going? I don’t know what that’s like.”

Louis rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. “Haz, an omega isn’t going to say you smell good so they can get sex or whatever. If an omega doesn’t like your scent they’re not going to want to stick around.”

“Oh,” Harry whispered. Where was he going with this? This wasn’t some recent revelation about alpha and omegas. Louis had done his fair share of talking about not liking some alphas scent and more often than not Harry was the one to hear about it.

The room fell silent again. It seemed like the conversation was over when Harry asked, “Do you think I smell good?”

Well, okay. That was a question he had not been expecting. Louis remained silent for a few moments before deciding on the simplest response.

Louis gave a soft nod up to the ceiling and said, “Yes.”

This conversation was making Louis age. He was going to have to buy some hair dye tomorrow for the grey hairs currently forming on his head.

“You can scent me if you want,” Harry said. “I might like it. I just can’t scent you back. Or anyone obviously.”

Wait, what the fuck? What the fuck did that mean? Did Harry mean _now_? Should Louis just flip over and nuzzle into Harry’s neck this minute? He certainly would if Harry told him to.

“I’m not saying you have to or anything,” Harry continued. “I just know I told you that you shouldn’t that one time. You can if you want though.”

For fucks sake. Louis wanted to know if Harry was scent marking him tonight. Well, Louis knew that he was but Liam told him to not say anything. Of course Liam also said not to scent Harry but here he was telling Louis that he could.

Louis turned his head to look at Harry at the same moment Harry turned his head as well. Even in the dark room Louis could see the hopeful look in Harry’s eyes. They’d been friends long enough to know that look. Louis turned onto his side so he could fully face him and Harry opened his arms in invitation. The invisible line that had been in place for so many years was broken as Louis scooted over into Harry’s space.

Louis moved to use Harry’s chest a pillow. He decided it was a balance between Harry’s offer and Liam’s warning by Louis plastering his nose into Harry’s chest. Harry was so much more than any other alpha Louis had been with. He had always been drawn to Harry’s scent but it was as if his scent were made just for Louis. He was silently cursing Harry’s shirt that was blocking his smell when Louis felt Harry brush his thumb over Louis’ birthmark before running his fingers through Louis’ hair. Louis decided that was an unofficial invitation to truly scent him.

Harry continued to brush Louis’ hair through his fingers. As Louis went to maneuver farther up Harry’s side to have better access to be able to nuzzle into Harry’s neck Harry snuck his arm under him to pull Louis in tighter and hold him in place by his waist. Screw what Liam said. Louis balled Harry’s shirt into his fist just for the sake of having something to hold on to as he took deep breaths by Harry’s pulsepoint. The result was magical. Louis almost laughed as he realized how desperate he had been to scent Harry. Louis had refused to recognize it for fear it would ruin their status of best friends so he never wanted to break their invisible barrier. Had Harry thought of this before? Had he just not said anything for the same reason? Or maybe he thought that Louis wouldn’t want to because Harry couldn’t return the action? How had Louis managed to restrain himself to just smell Harry on a regular basis. This was dangerous ground as Louis briefly thought he would never be able to _not_ scent him.

Louis gave the tiniest peck of a kiss possible on Harry’s neck before saying, “Thank you, Harry.”

He had no idea what the fuck he was thanking him for but Harry responded by pulling Louis into his side impossibly closer.

Louis moved his head out from Harry’s neck to become more comfortable on the pillow Harry was going to be forced to share. He heard Harry whisper, “I liked that”, as Louis was pulled into the best sleep he knew he would ever have.

\----

His bed was empty upon waking up. To be fair, Louis had expected that but it was still a little disappointing. It’s not like they could just flip a switch from best friends to more overnight, right? He checked his phone and found it to be 11 a.m. He hadn’t slept that late in awhile and it was such a good feeling. He smiled to himself knowing it was Sunday and he had no work. He did have plans though. Lay around the flat all day doing nothing. Brilliant.

A few missed text message alerts displayed under the time on his phone. Louis debated whether to continue to ignore them or see what they were about. He would read them, then ignore them. Good plan.

_Niall: I know you’re not working today. You’re not going to lay around the flat and do nothing. We already have plans to go bowling._

_Louis: No. It’s my day off. I’m meant to stay home and do nothing._

_Niall: Cool. Me and Liam will be over in about two hours to pick you guys up. So you might want to get dressed._

Louis let out a sigh. There was no point in arguing but couldn’t he at least been involved in their choice of an activity? It would be okay if the bowling alley was empty but there was no explainable reason why so many people wanted to go bowling on a Sunday afternoon. The place would be packed with loud competitive alphas. Oh well, might as well get it over with.

Louis heaved himself out of bed and headed to the kitchen for tea. Tea and cereal was sure to get him excited on the prospect of losing every game they played. Louis wondered if Niall chose bowling just so he had a competitive game to win at. Despite the amount of times they went bowling, which really wasn’t often, Louis never beat all of the players. Maybe today would be the day.

Louis found Harry in the living room typing up something on his laptop on the way to the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Harry called after him.

Louis turned back and stated, “Haz, we’ve been through this. How many times do I have to tell you that mornings are never good? I lost count how many times years ago.”

“And how many times have I told you that mornings are always good?” Harry countered. “It’s a new day, Lou. A fresh start.”

“Except for when you’re drunk and hungover,” Louis said.

Harry raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you drunk and hungover?”

“No.”

“Then it’s a good morning,” Harry said with a smile and decisive nod. “We’re going bowling today so get your game face on. And something besides pajamas.”

“I don’t have a game face. Especially not for bowling.”

“Sure you don’t,” Harry said on a laugh.

“I hate you,” Louis said as he turned to make his tea.

Louis wasn’t sure if he should consider last night’s event a fluke. It seemed like it was just like any other morning in their flat. Should Louis be in denial? Again? Still? Tea would definitely help him think.

\----

As promised, two hours later Niall and Liam were knocking on their door. It was possible that Louis put a little more time into getting ready than he normally would. Not for Harry of course since there were sure to be other lovely guys at the bowling alley.

“Why are you so dressed up, Lou?” Liam asked. “You never pull out skinny jeans for a day of bowling.”

Louis shrugged. “I have before and I had plenty of time to get dressed so I figured why not?”

“Mhmm,” Niall responded. Thankfully he kept his mouth shut otherwise.

“Well I think you look nice, Lou,” Harry said as he joined them in the living room.

“Thanks, Hazza,” Louis stated. “At least _someone_ appreciates the fact that I’m wearing something beside joggers. Unlike Liam and Niall here.”

“Mhmm,” Niall mumbled.

“Are we going or what?” Louis asked.

Niall wiggled his eyebrows and said, “Yes. I am fully ready to kick your ass. Bring it on, Tommo.”

“Prepare to lose, Niall,” Louis said. “It’s a new day.”

“Your game face is showing, Lou,” Harry said as they headed out the door.

Louis looked back to see Harry with a smirk on his face. Louis let out a huff and said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Or rather _you_ have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Harry placed no further argument which was a slight disappointment. Louis was in game mode after all which required him to keep up appearances of superiority at the game of bowling. He really needed to win. He _was_ going to win.

\----

“I reckon you’ve gotten worse,” Harry said as Louis walked back to the chairs mid-way through their first game.

“I’m just warming up,” Louis stated. “I’m preparing for my comeback.”

Liam snickered from where he was looking at the scoreboard. “I’m not sure how you can come back from this score. Maybe next game.”

“Right,” Louis said. “Exactly. I’m obviously warming up for the next game.”

“Sure you are, Lou,” Niall said as he walked back to the chairs.

“As we’re halfway through I think it’s time for a break," Louis stated. "Anyone for a beer?”

With three confirmations Louis headed to get the drinks. Louis moved between the two alphas standing by the bar and placed his order.

“Hi there,” the alpha on Louis right greeted. “You look nice. Are you here with someone?”

Louis pointed in the general area of his group and said, “Just some friends. They are all horrible players so naturally I’m kicking their asses.”

The alpha on Louis’ left let out a laugh of amusement and asked, “Are you a professional bowler then?”

Louis snorted. “No, absolutely not.”

“How often do you bowl then?” the alpha on Louis’ right asked.

Louis turned to the bartender who was clearly not the fastest at tending a bar. The alphas seemed nice enough though so Louis figured there wasn’t any hurry.

“I’m Jason, by the way,” the alpha said in introduction. He held out his hand in greeting.

Louis accepted the handshake and stated. “Louis. And I don’t bowl that often.”

“And I’m Brian,” the alpha on Louis’ left said. He also held his hand out in greeting which Louis’ accepted. “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Louis said. Thankfully the bartender finally had his beers ready so he could get back to the game. Louis moved to pick up their drinks and realized he forgot that this bowling alley used cheap plastic cups. It’s not like Louis’ hands were small or anything, but carrying four disposable cups was a lot more difficult than carrying glass pints.

The first alpha, Jason, seemed to recognize Louis’ predicament and asked, “Would you like help, Louis? With carrying those over to your friends?”

It’s not like he could go get Harry to come help him at this point so Louis nodded and said, “Sure, why not?”

Louis picked up two cups while Jason got the other two and proceeded to follow Louis through the bowling alley.

“I come bearing gifts,” Louis announced as he reached his friends. “Well, Jason here isn’t a gift and you’re paying me back for the pints so I guess that first statement is completely false.”

Louis handed a beer over to Harry while Jason handed over his beers to Liam and Niall. Louis saw Jason look up at the scoreboard and frown. Well shit.

Jason smiled at Louis and said, “I think you might have lied about your ranking.”

Louis waved him off and stated, “No, it’s not that. We’re actually playing for who can get the lowest score.”

“Like hell we are,” Niall interrupted.

Jason and Liam both laughed at Niall’s outburst. Louis glanced over to Harry only to find him frowning as he looked between Louis and Jason. Louis let it go when Jason placed a hand on Louis’ bicep to gain his attention.

“Well, Louis,” Jason said. “It was great to meet you. Me and Brian are about to start up a game soon in the lane next to yours. He’s probably worse than you are if you guys want to join.”

“I think we’re good,” Harry quickly said. “It was good to meet you though.” It was a friendly tone but Louis recognized it as meaning that he wasn’t being friendly. Interesting.

Jason gave a small smile and waved at Louis as he turned to head back to the bar. “Maybe I’ll see you around, Louis.”

“Maybe,” Louis said as he waved back. “Thanks for the help.”

Jason grinned and said, “Anytime.”

Niall was the first to speak once Jason was far enough away to not overhear. “He likes you.”

Louis scoffed. “We talked for, like, two seconds. There’s no way to make that assumption.”

Liam laughed and said, “You obviously weren’t paying attention. He may not _like_ like you, yet, but he’s most definitely attracted to you. Or at least your scent.”

“What?” Harry questioned from his seat. “What makes you say that?”

Liam shrugged. “His pheromones seemed to suggest it. I could be wrong of course. Just a guess.”

Louis didn’t like the way Harry was furrowing his eyebrows and attempted to interrupt whatever he was thinking by suggesting they get back to the game. It seemed to work and Harry set down his beer to take his turn.

“Congratulations on making Harry jealous,” Niall whispered.

“I didn’t…”

Liam snorted. “Oh, yes you did. I look forward to seeing how Harry reacts when those two guys start their game next to us.”

“Perfect timing,” Niall said as Brian and Jason neared the lane next to them. “Let the games begin.”

Harry was returning from his turn when Jason looked over to address their group, well mostly Louis. “Are you sure you don’t want to join up? We can wait until your game is finished.”

Louis spoke for the group and said, “No, I think we’re good. Besides, if Brian is actually worse than I am then I will lose my rightful place as being the worst player.”

Harry deflated into the plastic seat next to Louis and dropped his face into his hands. Louis looked up to the scoreboard and saw that Harry had now taken the lead with only one more round to go. What was he upset about? Louis looked over to Liam who simply shook head.

“Niall,” Louis called. “Harry is going to beat you. This is so sad. You’re going to be the loser.”

Niall laughed. “I think you have that covered, Tommo. Nice try though.”

“Nope, Brian still has that covered,” Jason said from next to them. Louis didn’t miss the fact that Harry was the only one who didn’t laugh again.

“Hey, Harry,” Liam said, bringing their groups attention to Liam. “I’m thinking you should show Loser Louis how to keep proper form for his last turn of this game.”

“Oii!” Louis exclaimed. “There’s nothing wrong with my form.”

Niall choked on his beer before saying, “ _Everything_ is wrong with your form, Lou. Did you ever wonder why you lose so badly?”

Louis shrugged. “Nope.”

“Right,” Liam continued. “Well your form is shit and I volunteer Harry to go up there with you and make adjustments so you have a better chance of hitting the pins.”

“I second that motion,” Niall said. “Harry?”

Harry seemed happy with the prospect as he stood up to escort Louis to the lane. This was going to be embarrassing.

“Harry,” Louis whispered. “This is going to make me look like I’m ten years old having no idea what I’m doing.”

“So?” Harry responded. “Now get up to the front of the lane. I’m going to show you the proper way to bowl.”

As Harry came up behind Louis the rest of the world seemed to fall away. It was just Harry and Louis. Harry maneuvered Louis’ stance and once that was set, he wrapped his arm around Louis’ waist as he talked softly into his ear on what to do once moving to roll the ball down the lane. When Harry’s instructions seemed to be complete he continued to hold Louis’ for a few more moments. As Harry released him out of his hold Harry gave a small kiss to Louis’ birthmark. It was just a tiny short peck but holy fuck. How the fuck was he supposed to remember anything Harry just said? Did Harry just kiss his birthmark? Louis would cut off the arm of any other alpha who would dare to even try that. To even _think_ it. But his neck was still tingling in pleasure as Harry stepped to the side and motioned for Louis to take his turn.

Louis’ arm was possibly about to fall off from the weight of the bowling ball but he ignored it and stood staring wide eyed at Harry. Harry had a soft smile on his face but his eyes were questioning as if he wasn’t sure he had just done the right thing.

“For fucks sake,” he heard Niall exclaim from a distance. “Screw your stance, just roll it on down there!”

Louis hoped his smile was reassuring as he tried to remember everything (or anything) Harry had just whispered in his ear. Louis let go and watched as the bowling ball shot down the lane and…

“ _STRIKE!_ ”

Louis couldn’t believe it. As he watched the pins fall he turned to Harry and pointed down the lane in disbelief.

“Strike, Harry!” Louis was turning into a ten year old. At least he was a ten year old that just got a strike.

Harry’s face turned to pure joy as he moved to gather Louis into a hug. Or maybe Louis moved to gather Harry in a hug. It didn’t matter.

“Budge over,” Niall said as he approached the lane that Harry and Louis still occupied. “It’s my turn and if I get a strike I might be able to pull ahead of Harry to end the game.”

“I just stole your strike, Niall.” Louis stated. “You are not winning this round.”

“Out of my way, the both of you,” Niall said as his face settled into one of concentration.

Louis moved out of Harry’s space to head back to their seating area where Liam awaited with a proud smile as well.

“Way to go, Lou,” Liam said in congratulations. “There’s hope for you yet.”

“I am winning the next game,” Louis stated as he sat down with Harry by his side.

\----

He didn’t win the next game. Not even close.

“We’re playing footie next week,” Louis stated. “Or anything that isn’t bowling and I’ll beat all of you.”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Louis,” Niall said.

“I’m not,” Louis countered. “I’m perfectly happy with my four strikes.”

“Sure you are,” Liam said. “Are we headed out then?”

“Not yet,” Harry said. “There’s a stuffed lion in the claw machine over there that I’m going to win.”

“Harry, you’re shit at those machines,” Liam stated. “Don’t waste your money.”

Harry ignored him and moved towards the machine with the biggest prizes. “Let’s go, Lou,” Harry called over his shoulder. “I’ll teach you how to win the big stuffed animals.”

Louis moved to follow when he heard Jason calling his name. Louis suddenly realized their groups hadn’t spoken the entire second game.

“Hey!” Louis said. “Sorry that I beat Brian. I’m just going to assume I did because I got three strikes that last game.”

Jason let out a laugh and said, “You definitely would be beating him then.” He paused before continuing. “I just wanted to say, I’m sorry.”

Louis furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and asked, “For what?”

Jason pointed in the direction of where Harry had gone off to. “You said you were with your friends. I didn’t really consider the fact that you were including your mate in with that statement. I guess I thought you were flirting with me or something at first, I didn’t mean to overstep.”

Wait what? His mate? Jason thought Harry was his mate? Um...

“It’s fine, really,” Louis said. “It was really nice to meet you though.”

Jason nodded in agreement. “Yeah, same. I’ll see you around, Louis.”

They both knew it was a lie but Louis returned the sentiment before rushing off to find where Harry had gone.

Just as he said, Harry was at the claw machine with the biggest prizes. When he spotted Louis he waved him over to join Harry in front of the machine.

“Which one do you want, Lou?” Harry asked with excitement in his voice.

Louis nudged Harry in the shoulder and said, “I thought you were going to get the lion.”

Louis hadn’t actually looked to see where the stuffed animal was and found that the lion was sat in the middle of the machine with smaller animals packed tightly around it. There was no way Harry would get that out.

“Okay, wait,” Louis said. “I lied. I don’t want the lion, go for something smaller.”

“You lack faith, Lou,” Harry said with a smile. “Come here, I’ll show you how you win.”

Harry pulled Louis in by the wrist until they were both stood facing the machine with Harry caging Louis in. Harry rested his chin on Louis shoulder as he talked softly into Louis’ ear, directing where Louis should move the claw next. After the third try they still hadn’t caught anything. Some of the animals had been moved but they were nowhere near catching the lion.

“Was that okay before?” Harry quietly asked as Louis inspected the way the prizes were displayed and situated.

“What do you mean?

Harry put more money in the machine and started the game over again, moving Louis’ hand off of the controller and taking over.

“I kissed you, Lou,” Harry said. “I kissed your birthmark.”

“You did, yes.” Louis didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t know what it meant. And he wanted to know what Harry was thinking so he could reply appropriately.

“I mean,” Harry continued. “You didn’t break my arm so I figure maybe that’s a good sign.”

Louis released a soft laugh at that statement and said, “That’s true. You can keep your arm, I suppose.”

Harry moved his left arm and wrapped it around Louis’ waist as Harry used his right hand to continue his quest to retrieve the stuffed lion. It felt lovely being in Harry’s arms like this but Jason’s statement resonated in Louis’ head. Louis moved to place he hand over Harry’s arm that was holding him snuggly into Harry’s chest. He didn’t want Harry to release him when Louis inquired about Harry’s actions down by the bowling lane.

“Haz?”

“Mhmm?” Harry responded. Louis could clearly see Harry was distracted by the game. Maybe that was for the best.

“Harry, did you do what you did because Jason was there or did you do that because you wanted to? Jason mentioned that he thought I was flirting with him so he was flirting back. Did you think that? Is that why? Or would you have done that whether he was there or not?”

Harry dropped the claw and successfully picked up one of the smaller animals that was sitting next to the lion. It fell before it was fully retrieved by the machine but Harry didn’t say anything and added more money to start over again.

Louis felt Harry loosen his hold on his waist and Louis was thankful he had thought to make sure he wouldn’t fully be released. Louis silently waited. He knew Harry would answer his question but he wasn’t going to rush him.

“Both, I think,” Harry finally said. “I was jealous to start. But then you were there with me in my arms and you were just so beautiful. You _are_ so beautiful. I can’t scent you, Lou and I wanted to so much. So I sent up a prayer that you wouldn’t cut off a limb and kissed you instead. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I won’t do it again.”

Louis was still stuck on the word beautiful. He heard the rest of Harry’s statement but Harry thought he was beautiful?

“You think I’m beautiful?” Louis quietly asked. They were in their own world again.

Louis felt Harry nod against his shoulder. “So much, Lou. I’ve always thought that.”

Louis briefly wondered if Harry would be revealing this much if he weren’t also focused on grabbing the stuffed lion. He was talking as if everything was so simple. Was it really that simple?

“You’re beautiful too, you know,” Louis said as he squeezed Harry’s arm. This was an odd conversation to be having in a bowling alley in front of of a claw machine with a damn lion that was nowhere near getting out.

“Gotcha!” Harry exclaimed in triumph.

What the fuck?

“Oh my God, Harry!” Louis watched in awe as the claw moved back into its stopping point and dropped the lion down the winners chute.

Harry shuffled Louis to the side and pulled out the stuffed toy. “For you,” Harry said as he presented it over to Louis.

Louis looked at the stuffed animal, then up at Harry. “Thank you, Hazza,” Louis quietly stated. He looked back down at the lion in his arms. Somehow it seemed a lot more than just a winners toy.

“Fucking finally,” Niall called. “Can we go now?”

Louis was going to strangle him.

As the pair moved to join Niall and Liam, Louis turned to Harry and said, “You know, I let that annoying alpha at work live the other day. What if I murdered Niall instead? Would that be okay?”

“I’ll even help you bury him,” Harry stated.

Louis buried his face in the stuffed lions mane to hide his pleased smile.

\----

Louis stared up at the ceiling. He'd been staring at the ceiling far too long. It didn't seem Harry was joining him tonight and Louis easily admitted that he was disappointed by this turn of events. Or maybe Harry thought things were changing too quickly. Louis realized he never really assured Harry that he liked the kiss on his birthmark. That he _loved_ it. He had spent more time than he should have inquiring about Jason. They had shared the rest of the evening with Niall and Liam as Harry made dinner for the group followed by lounging around the living room. There was their normal friendly cuddling between him and Harry but that was all.

Now the only thing Louis could think of was their day of bowling. Or at least the moments where Harry was helping him with his stance and perfect form to score those strikes. He had been so gentle in his movements and then the _kiss_. God. Louis would never forget that. Louis thought back to guys he had dated. They had scented him and he was okay with them scenting over his birthmark (unlike people in clubs) but he wasn't sure he would want them kissing him there. Despite Harry not being able to properly scent him Louis was pretty sure he would be okay with Harry skipping that step and moving right to the kiss. Or who was he kidding? Louis had about died of happiness when it happened. The strike he made directly afterwards was definitely luck because his brain was certainly not functioning properly.

But now he lay in bed by himself. His pillow still held the slight scent of Harry and Louis turned on his side to dig his nose into it while he continued to be wide awake. Screw it. It's not like Harry was his alpha or anything but he needed an alpha if he was going to sleep.

Louis got up and quietly moved towards Harry room. Louis knocked softly and cracked the door open.

"Harry?" Louis whispered. "Are you awake?"

Louis stood outside the door as he waited for a response. They had both learned long ago to not just barge into each others rooms no matter what time of day, especially when they were single. Images of Harry sprawled naked on his bed wanking flashed through Louis' mind. Yes, they had definitely learned.

"Lou?" Harry responded. It didn’t seem Louis had woken him up but Harry sounded a bit confused. It made sense since Harry was usually the one to join Louis once he had moved to London. Louis just realized that and wondered what it meant. If anything.

"Can I join you, Hazza?" Louis asked with uncertainty.

"Of course. Always, Lou." Louis couldn't see in the dark, but it sounded as if Harry was smiling through his words.

Louis moved across the dark room. Unlike Louis' room, he didn't have to worry about tripping over shoes or dirty clothes. Harry was far too tidy for his own good. Everyone should have shoes to trip on every once in awhile. It built character.

Harry was holding his blanket up to welcome Louis who easily slid in to lay next to him. Louis wasn't even going to waste time staring at the ceiling. He had done enough of that in his own room and Harry's ceiling was identical. He turned on his side to face Harry who was unfortunately staring up at the ceiling.

"I never answered your question," Louis said into the dark. Harry turned his head to look at him. When Louis didn't continue Harry turned onto his side so they were face to face. Much better.

"What question?"

"You asked if I liked it when you kissed my birthmark," Louis clarified. "You told me I'm beautiful and I got sidetracked."

Harry smiled fondly but remained silent as he patiently waited for Louis to continue.

"Well, I did," Louis quietly said. "I did like it."

Harry reached out and brushed his thumb over Louis' birthmark before wrapping his arm around Louis and pulling him into his chest. Harry's scent quickly changed and he was scent marking Louis again. Shit. Louis could tell him now, right? After the past two days and the fact that they were laying like this in Harry's bed? Louis never liked Liam's advice anyway so why should he follow it tonight? That was sound reasoning in Louis' book.

"I like this too," Louis said. This was going to flip the switch from friendship to more. Maybe. Hopefully.

"You like what?" Harry asked. So he _didn't_ know.

"I like when you scent mark me."

Harry froze. "What?"

"You've scent marked me four times now, Haz," Louis said with a smile. "All within the past two days. You're doing it now. I like it."

"I've... I've... what?" Harry asked.

Louis shrugged as best he could in his current position and stated, "Maybe you like me or something. Or maybe your alpha likes me."

Louis was caught off guard when Harry suddenly rolled on top of him. Harry ducked down and quickly kissed Louis before saying, "I think it might be both."

Harry ducked down again and gave a lingering kiss to Louis' birthmark. Shit that felt good. Only a few more kisses were exchanged before Harry was rolling onto his back and bringing Louis with him.

"Scent me, Lou," Harry stated. "Please."

How was Louis supposed to argue with that? Nothing else happened but maybe the switch from friends to more than friends was slightly sticky and took a little longer. Louis didn't doubt it would happen at this point.

\----

For the first time since they were sixteen and eighteen not only did the pair fall asleep in the same bed, but they also awoke with tangled limbs. Louis found himself being spooned and held tight against Harry chest. Louis wasn't sure if Harry was awake or not but he frowned in confusion when he sensed the waves of anxiety coming from Harry.

"Harry?" Louis quietly asked. He didn't want to wake him if he was still sleeping.

"I'm awake," Harry said. It didn't seem like he had been awake too long with the way his voice croaked.

"Why are you anxious, Haz? What's happened?" Was Harry having second thoughts about changing their relationship status?

"I'm not," Harry said. Louis wiggled a bit to loosen Harry's hold and when he was finally able to, he flipped around to face Harry.

Louis frowned again. "I'm not the one without a sense of smell, Haz. Why are you anxious?" Louis paused. It's not like Louis was suddenly entitled to know what Harry was thinking. He didn't need to know the thoughts that may be coinciding with Harry's scent.

"No," Louis corrected himself. "Never mind. I shouldn't have asked, I'm sorry. I only want to know if you want to share. You don't get the privilege of knowing what sort of pheromone I may be unknowingly releasing and I shouldn't expect anything in return."

Harry gave Louis' forehead a peck. "It's fine, Lou. I don't feel anxious so I'm not sure why you would be smelling that."

That didn't make sense but Louis let it go. Louis craned his neck around to look at the clock by Harry's bed. He loved how Harry still used a regular clock as opposed to just his phone.

Louis groaned. "I have to get ready for work."

"What are you doing tonight?" Harry asked.

Louis rolled his eyes. "I don't know. Something. Nothing. We both know I don't plan ahead."

Harry let out a laugh and pushed him away. Louis barely caught himself before falling off of the bed.

"I'll make us dinner," Harry said. "Maybe you'll remember that you were planning on looking into other jobs."

Louis made his way towards his room as he called behind him. "Why should I remember when I have you, Haz?"

Louis ducked out of the way before the pillow Harry threw at him made contact.

\----

Louis was sat on the couch looking at jobs to apply for. Well, it was more like Louis was sat on the couch looking towards the kitchen where Harry was cooking dinner. Louis could still sense the anxious pheromones radiating from him. Why the fuck was he so anxious? Harry appeared as if nothing was wrong and Louis had never known Harry's pheromones to stay in the same state of scent for such an extended period of time. Or maybe it was just when Harry was around Louis and had been fine during the day?

Louis was about to close his laptop when his calendar alert popped up.

Oh.

His heat was coming up. As in tomorrow. Louis rolled his eyes as he remembered he had been hitting dismiss and snooze on the calendar alerts for two days. No wonder his boss seemed confused when Louis had said he would see them tomorrow. He was scheduled off of work. In which case, did Harry realize Louis' heat was tomorrow? He usually knew when it was so he could leave the flat. Which then also made Louis wonder why Harry hadn't mentioned plans to leave. Was Harry's _alpha_ anxious? Was that a thing?

The elephant in the room finally made its appearance. Louis' heat was tomorrow, Harry was in the flat likely _knowing_ that Louis' heat was tomorrow and no one had said anything. Unless Harry's internal alpha pheromones counted. Louis hated going through heats by himself. They were usually shorter and Louis was less worn out when an alpha was with him. Was it too soon to ask Harry for help? Or too late for that matter. He could have asked for Harry's help years ago. Like, many years ago.

Louis closed his laptop and headed to the kitchen. Harry was at the stove making fajitas. Excellent choice.

Louis hopped up on the counter and said, "I know why you're anxious."

Harry looked over with furrowed brows. "Seriously, Lou. I'm fine. I'm not sure why I would be sending waves of anxiety but I'm truly fine."

"Well, your inner alpha isn't doing too well then," Louis said.

Harry laughed and asked, "What are you going on about?"

Fuck it. Louis was asking. "My heat is tomorrow, Haz. Did you know? Or did you remember? You haven't shared any plans to leave."

Harry paused and looked over. After a moment he quietly stated, "Yes. I remembered."

"And you're still here. With no plans?"

"I have not made plans yet, no," Harry said as he went back to preparing the food.

Louis paused as he continued to watch Harry make their dinner. After several moments Louis finally asked, "Will you stay with me? Will you help me?"

Louis could tell Harry was trying to contain his happiness. It wasn't working. His pheromones spoke for him.

“I take that as a yes then?” Louis asked.

Harry placed his full attention back on Louis. “I haven’t said anything. How do you know I’m saying yes?”

“It was a lucky guess?” Louis responded. When Harry raised his eyebrows in question, Louis continued. “You no longer have anxiety issues in your pheromones. They, like, evaporated two seconds after I asked.”

Harry set his work down and came to face Louis. He placed his hands on Louis’ thighs and leaned in for a kiss, after which Harry finally responded in words.

“Yes. Yes, Lou. I would love nothing more.”

Louis nodded in confirmation. “Good. Now are we eating or what? I’m starved.”

Louis allowed Harry to help him off the counter and Louis was directed to sit at the table. They ate in comfortable silence and Louis watched on as Harry’s eyes flicked down to Louis birthmark.

“What are you thinking about?” Louis asked in hopes of Harry saying something about Louis’ mark.

Harry smiled fondly and simply stated, “You.”

\----

They were laying side by side in Louis bed staring up at the ceiling. Maybe it was just habit at this point that they talk into the night like this. They were still best friends after all. Louis could feel his heat creeping up but he ignored it for the moment.

“Lou?” Harry quietly asked.

“Yeah?”

“Lou, I’ve… um. I’ve never… um.”

Louis rolled his eyes at the ceiling and said, “Spit it out, Haz. What?”

Harry remained silent and Louis flipped onto his side to look over at him. Harry glanced over momentarily but returned his eyes back to the ceiling. Louis took his time moving over into Harry’s side, throwing his arm across Harry’s chest and moving in to quickly scent him. Louis would never get enough of this.

“Lou?”

For the love of God, Harry had a hard time talking sometimes but this was a bit excessive. Louis pulled back and took Harry’s chin to guide him to look at Louis instead of the ceiling. Louis didn’t say anything as the pair just looked at one another.

“I’ve never knotted anyone, Lou,” Harry finally said. And holy fuck. Harry dating the continuous line of betas never gave him that opportunity. Holy shit. Louis was going to be his first? In that way at least. Louis put that thought aside for a moment because he sensed Harry’s pheromones as being nervous. Louis wasn’t sure if he’d ever experienced that before, if he’d ever smelled that from an alpha.

“You’re nervous,” Louis stated. “Are you nervous?”

Harry shrugged. “Maybe a little?”

Louis smiled and said, “Harry, you’re an alpha. You know what to do. You _will_ know what to do. When the time comes I trust you. More than anyone. You’ll take care of me probably better than anyone ever has.”

“But what if I don’t know what you need or something?” Harry asked. The question didn’t make sense. “What if you need me but you’re only radiating it through pheromones? I’m not going to know.”

And oh. His sense of smell. Seriously, get over it and move on.

“Harry, get over it and move on,” Louis said. “How long have we known each other? Because I’ve lost count of the years now. You don’t need a sense of smell to figure out what I may need.”

Louis bent down and kissed Harry before repeating, “You don’t need it.”

Harry let out a sigh and said, “I also can’t properly scent you, Lou. As your alpha, or, um, as the alpha that is helping you out you need that, don’t you?’

Louis remained silent. He wasn’t sure what he should address first from that statement or question Harry just said. Because did he just call himself Louis’ alpha? Or was he just referring to Louis’ alpha as in he’s here just to help him through his heat and they would go from there? Okay, first steps first, he needed to reassure Harry.

“I don’t know about other omegas,” Louis said. “But my alpha, the person who is helping me, doesn’t need that. I just need _you_ , Haz. You’ve scent marked me without knowing it. You know what to do.”

This was yet another long line of conversations that needed to be over with sooner rather than later.

“I trust you, Haz. So much.” With that statement Louis leaned in to give Harry a proper kiss. Harry quickly gathered Louis in his arms for better access.

“Hazza,” Louis spoke between kisses. “Please take off your shirt. And joggers while you’re at it.”

Harry snuffled into their next kiss and before Louis knew what was happening he was lying on his back with Harry above him ripping off his own shirt. Much better. Louis was quickly slick and he had a feeling he may slip into heat earlier than if he were by himself. Harry was scent marking him and, yes, Louis _was_ slipping into heat faster than usual. He let go and trusted Harry.

\----

Louis remembered waking up a few times throughout his heat, but not much. He definitely remembered Harry knotting him. At least twice and Louis was so happy. So happy. Well, until he felt it. Or smelled it. Maybe both because it was _strong_.

Louis blinked his eyes open and found Harry holding him tight. When Louis pulled back to better look at Harry he saw fear in his eyes that seemed to match that of his pheromones. He also noticed that it looked as if Harry had been crying. What the fuck? Louis was still so tired but what the fuck?

“Haz?”

Harry’s eyes snapped to lock with Louis’.

“I’m sorry, Lou,” Harry stated. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

What the fuck was going on?

“What the fuck is going on, Harry? Why are you sorry? What are you sorry for? Please just tell me so you can calm down which will then calm your omega down. Because I’m kind of freaking out right now so help me, please.”

That seemed to work, or at least partially. The fear remained in Harry’s eyes, but he somehow managed to let out calming pheromones on command which was actually quite impressive. It immediately helped.

“Thank you, Hazza,” Louis said. He reached up and brushed his finger down Harry’s impeccable jawline and asked. “What happened, Haz? Help your omega understand.”

Okay, if Harry asked why Louis just referred to himself as Harry’s omega twice he definitely had circumstances to fall back on for misspeaking. He just came out of a heat with Harry freaking out about something. Certainly one time of helping Louis with his heat didn’t make himself Harry’s omega. Although Louis wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to that idea.

Harry reached up and gently brushed his thumb across Louis’ birthmark. Or at least it seemed like it would be a light brush but in reality it kind of stung, but in a good way. Louis definitely wouldn’t be able to describe the sensation. Which…. Oh. That sensation could mean something more.

Louis kept his eyes locked to Harry and whispered, “Am I your omega, Harry? Are you my alpha?”

Harry cringed at Louis’ question and remained silent. Louis was only slightly confused by now and he reached up to feel his own neck. His birthmark was encompassed by what was most definitely teeth marks. They were bonded.

“Harry? Was that a choice you made or are you considering it an accident?”

Harry looked like he was about to speak but Louis cut him off. “Hazza, think before you answer that question because I swear to God if you say it was an accident I _will_ find a way to break the bond. If it was a choice you made, whether I was involved in the decision at the time of bonding, then I will be so incredibly happy. I would get to be your omega, and you my alpha. That thought makes me so happy. So think before you respond.”

The fear had dissipated from Harry’s eyes which Louis took as a good sign.

Harry fish mouthed a few times until he finally spoke. “I… I don’t think I meant to do it. Not now. Or not _then_ . But I also think that it was a subconscious decision. I wanted to claim you so bad, Lou. I wanted to bond with you. And, well, obviously I did it. I hope you are serious when you say it would make you happy. It makes _me_ happy.”

Louis let out a yawn. “If I weren’t so fucking tired right now I would be attacking you with kisses and giving you a blowjob while begging you to fuck me. I’m happy, Hazza. But let’s take a nap, yeah? You might be worn out as well.”

Harry pulled him in close and Louis had a sensation as if Harry was scenting him. Louis fell asleep without questioning it.

\----

Why was Harry scenting him like this? Or pretending to scent him? Louis woke to Harry placing kisses up his chest. From the status of Louis’ cock it seems Harry may have started there and worked his way up. But once Harry had crawled up Louis body he nuzzled into Louis’ neck and was pretending to scent him as if his life depended on it.

Louis remained silent as Harry went through this process, partly because he was just waking up, and partly because he was enjoying Harry’s silent ministrations. But now the fake scenting was confusing him.

“Hazza?” Louis asked. Harry didn’t move away from kissing and fake scenting Louis’ neck.

“Alpha?”

That worked. Harry popped up to look at Louis briefly before ducking down and kissing him. Louis moved his hand into Harry’s hair to hold him in place as he opened his mouth in silent invitation. Harry smelled so fucking good. Was it possible he smelled better than ever before?

Harry eventually pulled back and returned to his trail of kisses leading down Louis body. With Harry’s strong scent of arousal it wasn’t taking much for Louis’ body to respond. Louis quickly took note that Harry must have changed the sheets at least once during Louis’ heat because they definitely weren’t as gross as they would be if it was Louis by himself. It was obviously pointless though because Harry’s attention to Louis’ body was making him wet. Wet and ready.

“Haz,” Louis said in a strangled voice as Harry took him into his mouth. What had Harry managed to do while Louis was still sleeping to cause him to already be so close to coming?

“Hazza,” Louis couldn’t help but whine. “I’m about to come but I want you to fuck me. Alpha, please.”

Harry quickly moved up the bed to meet Louis’ eyes. Harry smiled and said, “No."

“What?” Louis whimpered.

Harry’s smile grew as he said, “I’m not going to fuck you. I’ll make love to you though.”

Louis stared blankly up at Harry. His cock was throbbing. Louis shook his head and said, “No. Harry, no. We do not live in the eighteen-hundreds. Our story of turning from friends to bondmates is going to be cheesy enough without saying the phrase ‘Make love’.”

Harry let out a soft laugh. “Do you want my cock, or no?” He ducked down to quickly fake scent Louis before popping back up. “Lou?”

“Haz, I really do need to come. Please.”

Harry quickly kissed Louis and started to move as if he were going to climb off of the bed and leave. He was serious?!

“Okay!” Louis quickly said. Harry moved back into his previous position.

“Okay what?”

Louis rolled his eyes. “Make love to me, Haz.”

Harry booped Louis’ nose and stated, “I do not appreciate the eye roll but okay.”

“Who _are_ you?” Louis mumbled. “When did you get this cheesy?”

Harry shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to make love to someone. I just never found the right someone to call it that.”

Louis really couldn’t argue with that. If Louis was the right person for Harry, he’d call it whatever Harry wanted. Maybe.

Fucking finally. Wait, no. Making love finally.

Harry rhythm was perfect which was making it difficult to speak. Louis tried anyway. “I don’t know how…. Oh my God!... long you’ve been _making love_ to my body but... holy shit, yes!... now that I’m awake I’m not going to last long. Alpha!”

“Good,” Harry panted into Louis’ mouth. “Neither am I,” he said before moving down and kissing on and around Louis bondmark.

Harry moved back to fake scenting him again. For some reason Louis thought about how maybe it wasn’t fake and that Harry was in fact truly scenting him.

And then Harry mumbled, “You smell so fucking good, Lou. So good.”

Whether that statement was real or not, it sent Louis over the edge and he was coming hard. He felt Harry’s knot lock into place and he soon followed. When their breathing was almost back to normal Harry gathered Louis up in his arms and maneuvered them into a spooning position so Louis would be comfortable while they waited for Harry’s knot to deflate.

Harry held Louis tight as they laid in silence. Louis wanted to ask why Harry had said that Louis smelled good, but he wasn’t sure if he should say anything. He didn’t want to see Harry’s beautiful face fall in disappointment when he found out what he said, when he really couldn’t smell Louis’ pheromones. At least that’s what Louis was assuming Harry would have meant when he said it.

Once Harry slipped out of him, Louis turned around so they could face each other. They shared a kiss before Louis pulled back. He had to ask. Not that he had ever been with Harry like this before but was it just something he told the betas he was with as well? Louis didn’t want to think about that. He bit his lip until he built up the courage to say anything. It wasn’t really a big deal was it?

“You said that I smelled good, Haz,” Louis said. “Why would you say that?”

Harry had a soft smile on his face as he ran his hand through Louis’ hair.

“Because you do. You smell so fucking good. God. I can’t believe I’ve had to waste so many years not knowing that. Well, I guess it wasn’t a waste but it would have been so much better.”

Louis furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Harry seemed serious.

“Are you saying you just magically gained your sense of smell out of nowhere?”

Harry shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal and said, “I guess? Kinda? I mean, the doctors always said there was nothing actually wrong physically, that there was no explainable reason why I couldn’t smell.”

Harry paused to allow the statement to settle before continuing. “The moment our bond was complete, or well not exactly our moment since it wasn’t really mutual…”

“Yes, it was!” Louis interrupted. “It was, you just didn’t know it. Sorry, continue.”

Harry let out a small laugh. “Okay, well once the bond was complete I could smell you. I can _smell_ you, Louis! And you smell so fucking good.”

“Can you just smell me? Or can you smell other stuff too?”

Harry shrugged again. “I can smell other stuff too but I don’t really care about that. I only care about you.”

Harry pointed a finger into Louis chest to drive the point home. And wait, why did Louis have to ask about a comment Harry made to find out this mind blowing information? Louis pushed Harry away so hard he would have fallen off of the bed if they weren’t laying so close.

“What the fuck, Lou? What was that for?”

Lous punched Harry in the chest several times until Harry caught both wrists in one hand. “When were you going to tell me this mind blowing information, Harry??? Do you not find this revelation something important to share with your omega???”

Harry shrugged.

“Stop shrugging like this is nothing,” Louis stated. Why was Louis so upset all of a sudden? He didn’t mean to be, but now that he thought about it he actually was quite pissed off.

Harry kept hold of Louis’ wrists, as he rolled on top of him, placing and holding Louis’ hands above his head. Louis paused because that was a really hot move.

Harry ducked down and kissed him before saying, “I didn’t say anything because these past couple days have been about _you_. I’ve wanted to help with your heat for so long, Lou. So long. And then you were so happy that we had bonded even though I didn’t think you would be. And then we kind of got distracted by other activities. I was literally about to tell you right before you asked.”

“Oh.”

Harry let out a full body laugh and said, “Yes, oh.” Harry paused before continuing. “It’s true though.”

“What’s true?”

“I only care about smelling and scenting _you_. I would be just as happy if I couldn’t smell anything else.”

Louis huffed. “Well I wouldn’t. I want you to smell all of my favorite things, Hazza. Also, I’m curious to see if being able to smell things also affects how you taste stuff. I read somewhere that it can. Maybe you’ll finally realize that putting a shit ton of ketchup on eggs is absolutely disgusting. I am one-hundred percent positive you’ll know what I’m talking about now.”

Harry merely gave Louis a fond smile before saying, “Are you ready to get up? You have to be hungry and I can make you eggs. We can test that theory. A lot of people put ketchup on eggs though, Lou, so I don’t know what the big deal is.”

Louis nodded. “Let’s go. Practically half a bottle of ketchup on eggs is definitely the first thing you’ll realize is gross.”

\----

Louis handed Harry the bottle of ketchup when the eggs were prepared. As always, he covered the eggs with the offending condiment. Louis silently watched on as Harry took a bite of his food and burst out in a fit of laughter as Harry’s eyes went comically wide and he rushed to the sink to spit out the eggs.

“Well would you look at that,” Louis said with a smirk on his face. “It looks like I fixed your sense of taste as well.”

Louis innocently smiled as he watched his alpha rinse out his mouth and start on a new batch of eggs. Things were back to normal, and Louis loved this version of normal.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed it! I gladly welcome and appreciate kudos and nice comments! Should you feel so inclined, I would love you lots if you reblog my [fic post](http://2tiedships2.tumblr.com/post/178169526650/i-wanna-be-more-than-friends-207k-by)!


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